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[Reprinted from Records of the Past, Vol. ix, No. i, Jan-Feb,, 1910.] 



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GREAT FALLS OF THE POTOMAC 

Photo by Thomas F. Nelson. 

WASHINGTON'S CANAL AROUND THE GREAT FALLS 

OF THE POTOMAC 

ON THE Virginia side of the Potomac river about half a mile 
below the Great Falls, lying deep down within a thicket of 
tangled underbrush, are huge crumbling walls of massive 
masonry and a great cleft in the solid rock carved out to 
a depth of well nigh 200 feet — all that remains of the first efforts of the pro- 
moters of an infant nation to establish a means of unobstructed water 
communication and transportation between the interior and tide-water. 

No more convincing argument for the greatness of George Washington 
could be presented to the average mind than that furnished by following 
step by step the rise and decline of this now historic ruin — the Potomac 
Canal around the Great Falls of the Potomac river.' 

Inter-communication between the coast and the fertile valleys of 
the frontier was the theme and thought alike of statesman and husbandman 
for more than a decade prior to the separation of the Colonies from English 
rule. Natural water-ways were at that time resorted to as the only medium 
that afforded means of transportation, and this was restricted by reason of 
the cost in time and labor caused by the frequent obstructions and rapid 
currents in such streams as could be thus used even by canoes and very small 
barges. Slack-water navigation was therefore impossible upon natural 
water courses, hence transportation under existing conditions, even down 
stream, encountered obstacles almost insurmountable, while the snail- 
like pace and excessive labor of the return trip up-stream against the cur- 
rent by poling and warping, was scarcely to be considered at all. 

Washington after surrendering to Congress his commission as com- 
mander-in-chief of the army, retired to Mt. Vernon with the avowed inten- 
tion of spending the remainder of his days in the avocations of peace. It 

' Visitors to this historic ruin can reach the spot by the " Old Dominion Electric " from Georgetown, D. C. 



An N^ 



24 



RECORDS OF THE PAST 




GREAT FALLS OF THE POTOMAC FROM THE MARYLAND SHJE 

Photo by Miss A. Pratt. 

was not a life of selfish ease which he contemplated but an opportunity 
to consider plans formed many years before, the dominant feature of which 
involved " the greatest good to the greatest number; " hence it is no surprise 
to learn of his resolve to visit at this time his lands situated in the Ohio 
Valley. This ^vas not only a trip involving great hardship and considerable 
peril but it afforded the opportunity which he desired to obtain by observa- 
tion some information concerning his "favorite plan" for inland navigation. 

Washington's diary covers the details of the journey commencing 
with his departure from Mt. Vernon on the first day of September, 1784, 
and from its pages we learn that one object of his journey was "to obtain 
information of the nearest and best communication between the Eastern 
& Western W^aters; & to facilitate as much as in me lays the Inland Naviga- 
tion of the Potomack. " This was uppermost in his mind, for he commenced 
his inquiries in that direction on the third day. On the 6th of September 
his diary tells us he remained all day at Bath and there examined the 
"Model of a Boat constructed by the ingenious Mr. Rumsey" to whom he 
gave the following letter :- 

"I have seen the model of Mr. Rumsey's Boats constructed to work 
against stream; — have examined the power upon which it acts: — have been 
an eye witness to an actual experiment in running water of some rapidity; 
& do give it as my opinion faltho I had httle faith before) that he has 
discovered the art of propelling Boats, by mechanism & small manual 



2 Washington, MSS. Letter Book in the Library of Congress, \Vol. 6, p. 262. 



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Peculiarities of Humanity and Civilization 

Frederick Bennett Wright has had special opportunities to fit him for such courses. In 1894 he visited Greenland 
with Dr. Frederick A. Cook on the ill-fated Miranda, which was wrecked on the Greenland coast. In 1897 he 
graduated from Oberhn College, having pursued the Scientific Course. The two years following he studied Geology 
in Johns Hopkins University. During this time he also worked in the United States Weather Bureau. The year 1900 
and part of 1901 he spent on a geological trip with his father, Prof: G. Frederick Wright, of Oberiin College, tlirough 
Japan, China, Manchuria, Siberia, Turkestan, Russia, and the Caucasus into Asia Minor at Trebizond, the region of the 
Retreat of Xenophon's Ten Thousand and the Golden Fleece, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. On this trip he 
took about 2,000 photographs, which turned out well, and form the nucleus for the illustrations of most of these talks. 
Part of the slides are colored, the work being done under his personal supervision. Since 1902 he has been one of the 
editors of the Records of the Past, which has kept him fully informed along the lines of Historical and Scienrific 
Research. He is one of the Charter Members of the Arctic Club of America. 

Address a.U Correspondence to 

FREDERICK BENNETT WRIGHT 

330 A STREET S. E. WASHINGTON, D. C. i \ 

^ 



WASHINGTON'S CANAL 25 

assistance, against rapid currents; — that the discovery is of vast impor- 
tance — may be of the greatest usefulness in our inland navigation — & if it 
succeeds, of which I have no doubt, that the value of it is greatlv 
enhanced by the simplicity of the works, which when seen & explained to. 
might be executed by the most common mechanics. 

"Given under my hand at the tov/n of Bath, County of Berkeley in 
the State of Virginia this 7th day of Sept, 1784. 

George Washington" 

Here was the inspiration that created the canal around the Great 
Falls of the Potomac. 

Washington continued his journey into Western Pennsylvania. 
Returning he arrived at Mt. Vernon on the 4th October "having travelled 
on the same horses since the first day of September by the computed 
distances 680 miles. " 




LOCK NUMBER I 



Pholo by Thomas F. Nelson. 



Prior to the 6th of September there is no suggestion that Washington 
ever contemplated as a part of his "favorite plan" any such improvement 
of the Potomac river as would permit navigation by boats of any consider- 
able size, or that would overcome such an obstacle to unobstructed navi- 
gation as the Great Falls. 

No such colossal work as that which was actually begun but a few- 
months later in the construction of the canal around Great Falls could 
have been contemplated under the then existing conditions of navigation: 
Washington's "favorite plan" was broadened and deepened by the actual 
experiment which he had just witnessed in the trial of Ramsey's boat; 
hence when he returned to Mt. Vernon a month later the whole project 



26 



RECORDS OF THE PAST 



had been fully considered and he was prepared to act. In less than 3 
months the Potomac Company was incorporated by concurrent legislative 
enactments in Maryland and Virginia and on the 7th of May, 1785, organi- 
zation was effected and George Washington became the first President of 
the Potomac Company, in which capacity he acted until called to fill a more 
exalted place — that of First President of the United States of America. 
'iTie unselfishness of Washington could not be illustrated in a better 
manner than by referring to his embarrassment following the action of 
the Virginia Legislature which by a unanimous vote authorized the treasurer 
of the State to subscribe for certain shares of the stock "for the benefit 
of General Washington" in both the James River Company and the Poto- 



Tf^^f. 







LOCK NUMBER 2 

Photo by Thovias F. Nelson. 

mac Compacy which they had just created by acts of incorporation. 
When the intelligence reached him of this action, he expressed the gratitude 
which he felt for the affection displayed, likewise the embarrassment under 
which he was thereby placed should he decline to accept the benefit proffered 
in the Act. He feared that his activity in the matter would be ascribed 
to motives far removed from those which actuated him. In a letter to 
his nearest personal friends in which he seeks their advice he expresses him- 
self thus: 'not content then with the bare consciousness of my having in 
all this navigation business acted upon the clearest conviction of the politi- 
cal importance of the measure, I would wish that every individual who may 
hear that it was a favorite plan of mine, may know also, that I had no other 
motive for promoting it, than the advantage of which I conceived it would 



WASHINGTON'S CANAL 



27 



be productive to the Union at large, and to this state in particular, by 
cementing the eastern and western territory together, at the same time it 
will give vigour and increase to our commerce and be a convenience to our 
citizens."^ 

Washington did not live to see the fruition of his "favorite plan." 
The work on the canal around Great Falls was only in that condition which 
might be described as well nigh completed when he was laid to rest at Mt. 
Vernon. In November, 1797, the "Patowmack Company" recites in 
their petition set forth in the preamble to an Act of the Maryland General 
A ssembly "that the company, to facilitate the transportation of produce down 




LOCK NUMBER 3 

Photo by Thomas F. Nelson. 

said river, have constructed an inclined plane from the lower end of the canal 
to the surface of the river below the Great Falls, by means of which machine 
all articles can be let down, and those not of great bulk or weight taken 
up with security and despatch; that a warehouse is also provided for storing 
such articles when found necessary, or when boats are not ready for trans- 
porting said produce down the said river."' The locks around Little Falls 



' Washington's MSS. Letter book in the Library of Congress, Vol. 6, p. 335 dated twenty-second Jan- 
uary, 1785, to Hon. Benjamin Harrison and another of same date to Hon. Wm. Grayson. 
* Laws of Maryland, Chap. 93, November, 1797. 




LOCKS 4 AND 5 LOOKING OUT ACROSS THK POTOMAC TOWARDS THE M.A.RYLAND 

SIDE 

Photo by Thomas F. Nelson. 




LOCKS 4 AND 5 LOOKING IN FROM THE POTOMAC RIVER 

Photo by Thomas F. Nelson. 



30 RECORDS OF THE PAST 

were at this time completed and in use. The time for completing the work 
of opening the Potomac river to navigation was extended by the same Act 
of the Maryland Assembly to January, 1803. 

The great magnitude of the work involved in surmounting the obstacle 
to navigation interposed by these Falls is set forth in a Report of the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury by resolution of the United States Senate, 2 March, 
1807, as follows: "The Company incorporated by the States of Virginia 
and Maryland for improving the navigation of the Potomac river has 
executed the following works: At a distance of 12 miles above the head of the 
tide which ascends about 3 miles above the city of Washington, the river 
is 143 ft. higher than tide-water. At that place designated by the name 
Great Falls, the boats passing through a canal one mile in length, 6 ft. 
deep and 25 ft. wide, descend 76 ft. by 5 locks 100 ft. long and 12 ft. wide 
each and re-entering the river follow its natural bed Si miles. Another 
canal of the same dimensions and 2^ miles in length brings them through 
3 locks and by a descent of 37 ft. to tide-water. This last fall is distin- 
guished by the name of Little Falls.-"^ 

The decline of the Potomac Company began almost simultaneously 
with -the completion of the work on the Canal around the Great Falls 
and was finished when its charter and property was transferred to the 
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company in 1825 and the utilization of the 
natural bed of the Potomac river for transportation purposes was abandoned 
for still-water navigation offered by means of a canal constructed along the 
banks on the IVIaryland side of the river. The works on the Virginia 
side of the river were abandoned and now there remain only faint traces 
of their existence aside from the massive walls of cut stone and the great 
rift in the solid rock that marks the place where these great locks were con- 
structed — mute but impressive monuments to one who stands unchallenged 
the greatest man in America as well as "The Father of his Country. " 

This bit of history may serve to call attention to the great question of 
the conservation and utilization of the water-ways of the Nation. Per- 
haps it may become apparent at no very remote date that Washington's 
"favorite plan" was not all a dream or as impracticable as would appear 
from the fact that this initial effort at the inland navigation of our natural 
water-ways was a failure and has been a ruin for well-nigh one hundred 
years. 

What obstacle — except the great cost of construction — is to be sur- 
mounted in confining such natural water-ways within adequate limits 
and utilizing the enormous forces of nature therein contained to pro- 
duce light, heat and power from every gallon of water that precipitation 
deposits within the water-shed of any stream and withholding the surplus 
precipitation of the snows of winter and the shovv^ers of the spring in 
storage canals which can be successively drawn upon as needed throughout 
the year. If this be too Utopian for the present day we are content to 
leave this record for the information of the historian one hundred years 
hence. 

Thomas Forsythe Nelson. 
Washington, D. C 

' See also House Report, No. 228, dated May 22, 1826. Serial No. 142. 



AMERICANA HISTORICA 



Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Researches concerning those Patriots who, by 
word or by deed, between 1760 and 1789, aided in the 

Formation of the American Nation 

COMPRISING THE 

ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS 

OF THE 

Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Members of the Continental Congress, and 

Colonial Legislative Bodies, Committees of Correspondence and Safety, 

Society of the Cincinnati, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors and 

others whose activities are recorded 

More than 100,000 Families 

Including from three to ten generations in each; a vast storeliouse of Genealogical Data with 

Historical Environment mostly drawn from authentic MSS. sources— the labor 

of twenty-five years— now made available to those wishing to 

Trace Family History 

Address: THOMAS FORSYTHE NELSON 

P. O. Lock Box -173 WASHINGTON, D. C. 



SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING GENEALOGICAL 

RESEARCH 

There are three primary and essential points to be considered in tracing 
every Hneage or branch of a family history. That which is within one's 
own personal knowledge must, of necessity form the basis for every search. 
When we speak of ' 'personal knowledge" we must include the information 
or family traditions, either recorded or otherwise, derived from other and 
older members of the family groups with whom there has been intimac}- 
and personal contact, i. e., parents and grandparents, brothers, sisters, 
uncles and aunts. All of the genealogical history of a family, beyond that 
obtained directly from them and lying within their knowledge must be 
tested b}' applying these three cardinal principles, \'iz : Testimony, Evidence 
and Proof. 

It is unfortunate that so many genealogies and family histories have been 
been compiled and printed, and so many lineages constructed and adopted, 
in which Testimony has been accepted and incorporated as Proof. To 
assert, as many have done, that a person mentioned in history and bearing 
the same name, is an ancestor, without so much as seeking for some identi- 
fying data as evidence, is the height of folly, and to omit seeking for some 



corroborative evidence can be fully appreciated only by those whose asser- 
tions of that character have placed them in very embarrassing positions. 

Testimony can be said to constitute the fibers which form the threads 
of evidence that may be woven together, when a sufficient number of like 
character and texture have been gathered, into a iveb of proof, and it will be 
apparent at once that more than one or two fibers of testimony are required 
to form a thread of evidence, and that many such threads of evidence of 
similar texture must be used in weaving a iveb of proof. 

The work now being available to those interested in tracing Family 
History had its beginning in some specific studies and researches into the 
original local record sources of American history ; a modest effort to trace 
the evironment, both social and liistorical, of indi\iduals and families who 
have left the impress or their personality upon the questions or events of 
historical prominence with which they were connected ; to learn more of the 
development of the spirit of independence and boundless ambition that 
laid the foundation of the greatest Nation in history; to compare the true 
and false in history with the contemporary record. This has progressed 
until it can now be said these researches comprise in some degree the major 
portion of those whose activities between 1760 and 1789 entitle them to be 
regarded with veneration as the "Fathers of the Nation." 

Hundreds of letters of inquiry are being received which cannot be 
answered because, to do so in an intelligent manner would require some 
search thi-ough thousands of records in my files, which, although the files 
may be within reach of my hand, requires time. When it is remembered, 
also, that all such inquiries are for the unknown, very seldom clearly or 
definitely expressed, it will be apparent that no satisfactory reply can be 
given except to request further and more definite information as to what 
is desired. Experience, however, has shown that such a request is seldom 
complied with but the matter is entirely dropped and thus, not only my 
time but the stationery and postage is wasted which has been used in the 
endea^'or to be courteous by replying to all letters received. 

It is, therefore, to be understood that no reply need be expected to any 
inquiry of this character unless accompanied with a post-office order for 
$2. This sum will justify making the necessary search to form some proper 
or possible basis for a satisfactory reply. 

Letters of inquiry as to the whole cost of making genealogical research 
cannot be ansered with any estimate until all the known facts are submitted 
and some idea gained, from correspondence or interview, as to just how far 
such a search is to be carried. It may be started, however, that some testi- 
mony concerning any individual name inquired about will be included in a 
reply made under the $2 remittance above mentioned, and that quite an 
exhaustive report upon any such individual name, which might reasonably 
become threads of evidence, will be given for $5, but the cost of connected 
family groups or lineages covering several generations, with a complete 
web of proof will be estimated only when all the known data has been sub- 
mitted. 

Thomas Forsythe Nelson, 

Genealogical Scientist. 
Address, 
P. O. Lock Box 473. Washington, D. C. 



550 



































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